There Was Once A Once Upon A Time
by death-in-the-orchard
Summary: Alucard tells young Walter and Arthur Hellsing a bedtime story.  A little odd, but don't hold it against me


There once was a man, a king of the lands, who wished to build a throne that could reach through the heavens. It would be a monument of his love for the Lord, so the king demanded the body of every heathen his men killed, to be brought to his castle and used to create his throne. His men nodded and did his bidding, for the word of God was in his crazed mind. The mountain of bodies grew and grew, until it rose above the grandest trees and the most majestic mountains. The man could peer into India, Russia, and even Africa, but he was not at Heaven's gate, so he was not satisfied. Below him rivers ran red with blood, but they were heathens, so it was a just bloodshed and his men worked diligently for the man in the sky. They killed and they killed and they killed until the king's hand could touch the red dust of Mars, they killed until the last heathen lay dead, beneath the elevated man.

"My Lord!" They cried out to him from below, and he peered down at his subjects with only a frown. "The heathens are dead! How shall we finish your throne?"

The man scowled at their stupidity and bellowed down to their ears. "Bring me the criminals, the whores, rapists, and murderers! They shall be used next, for God has no heart for the damned!"

These bodies were brought and the man was lifted into the body of the stars, but it was not enough. The subjects cried out again, fearful of the tower and the man.

"My Lord!" The king snarled, but turned his eyes to his people. "The criminals are dead! Every last whore, rapist, and murderer! How now shall we continue?"

"Bing me the deformed! The hideous and feared! God hated them from birth, so he shall be pleased to have them gone!" The man looked up to the heavens, eyes burning to see the Kingdom. The subjects faltered.

"But, Sire! The people fear you! What shall we do?"

The man roared in fury, his rage echoing through the galaxies. "I am their king! Their lord and master! Their fear is not real fear! Now build up my throne!"

The people followed the man's will and killed and killed and killed. Now they had run out of bodies once more.

"My Lord! It is done! The hideous and feared are dead! What now, my lord?"

"Pile on all of the dead! Without their souls, the body is but dust and shall be made use of if added to my throne! Now bring me the ill! The sick that poison the land! Bring them to me to rid the world of sickness!"

It was done, and the throne reached past the stars and pierced into the black world beyond them.

"My Lord! They are all dead! What now? What shall we do now?"

"Bring me all of those you see and do not love! I need more bodies! More! For my throne!"

The subjects did as they were told, and the throne rose through the darkness and approached a white light. The light solidified and formed an immaculate gate with billions of shining celestial bodies behind it, watching the king. The man grinned, muscles taut with joy, and he let out a laugh that clashed against the singing voices of angels. His throne stopped just out of arm's reach of the gate. The king strained and strained, but could not touch the gate. He growled down at his subjects and let out a yell.

"MORE! MORE! I CAN ALMOST TOUCH THE GATE! MORE I COMMAND, MORE!"

"My Lord."

The man's eyes whipped to the gate and fell onto the celestial forms. He froze as he recognized them, and they spoke.

"There are no more bodies. All are dead, for we could not even love or remember who we were once. All of the world was a stranger. All of us are dead. Your throne will never reach the Kingdom."

"NO!" The man screamed, gnashing his teeth and standing on his throne. He threw out his arms and screamed again. "NO, MY SUBJECTS! I WAS TO REACH GOD! NOT YOU! NOT YOU! NOT THE HEATHENS, THE CRIMINALS, THE OTHERS BEHIND YOU! I WILL HAVE GOD! NOT YOU! NOT YOU!"

The man snarled and made a wild leap from the towering throne, unbalancing it…and it tumbled beneath him as his hands grasped for the gate. He did not touch it, and fell with the bodies, into the black darkness, falling so far that the light of heaven faded, and he passed again the stars and the planet Mars, he fell, and fell, until he struck the earth.

There was no longer a world a living, only the dead that the man fell upon, just as lifeless as the rest.

Walter stared at Alucard as Arthur stood pale behind the beast, but Alucard only smiled and brushed a few long strands of hair from his face. Walter choked on his breath, but found his voice to speak.

"Is the moral, don't kill? Are you actually telling me…?"

The vampire frowned and shook his head, the white scarf hanging from his shoulders shifting with the movement. "No." He said flatly, ignoring his master as the man remained pale and lifeless, regretting the moment he had asked the vampire to help put young Walter to bed. "Don't kill _everyone_ and expect to go to heaven." Red eyes flashed over a white shoulder, the vampire's attention finally shifting to Arthur. "And don't force a vampire to help tell bedtime stories."

With that, the content beast grinned savagely to himself and slipped off the boy's bed where he had been sitting, and faded into the wall by the door. The humans left behind did not speak, and remained standing or sitting, in Walter's case, for several odd minutes. Then Arthur wished the boy a faint goodnight and left the room unsteadily.


End file.
